I can’t believe that IFSEC has come and gone. Were you one of the 23,709 people to attend or did you stay at home? IFSEC tell us they had a 14pc increase in end users and a 42pc increase in company directors and company holders so all good. What did I think and more to the point what did you think? I always enjoy the show, wherever it may be. It was really busy for me of course and I would be quite happy for it to go back to four days, but ok they are not going to do that. We had Tyco Security Products taking center stage like Cinderella’s palace in the centre of the show with its double-decker stand. This time the organisers UBM had spread others out and around the hall so there was not that congestion of people in any one area. I loved the Risco stand, only because it looked different and reminded me of the Ideal Home exhibition. Newcomers Vanderbilt also went for a double-decker stand whilst CCTV Direct went for a double-decker – their bus outside. We got to see more 4K kit as that seems to be the buzz, but the one product that stood out for me was the up and coming number of car cameras, the dash board camera. Smart Witness on the Y3K stand seemed to be the leader in this area having fitted out most London taxis.
Thanks to all of you that treated us to your hospitality and invited us to your parties and sorry, we could not make them all, even if you did rescinded the invitation during the day; we couldn’t have come anyway! However Pyronix who looked after us well must win the award for best party on a fancy ship! Thank you Julie and your team. The Titan robot went down really well and was certainly a draw to the Xtralis stand, the winner of the Titan selfie competition was Ian Hill from ADT. I have to be honest it scared the …. out of me. Well I could go on but I won’t as we have more to gossip; I would round this up by saying yes it’s back next year, yes it’s in London and the dates are June 21 to 23, thanks guys; my wedding anniversary is smack in the middle.
So what about those movers? Geoff Bowers has left Wavestore and joined Geoquip, so I understand; likewise I hear that Glenn Fletcher is joining Wavestore as the Northern European business manager. I also hear that Richard Lee who was at Genetec is also joining them. Talking of Genetec, seems that Simon Barnes has been promoted and now looking after Europe. Alison Gallagher is working over at iComply with hubby for a while. So that keeps you up to date with that lot.
Now one of our readers needs your help. I have just received an email via our website about an incident that happened outside Union Square shopping centre in Aberdeen on Monday, July 13 at 1pm; seems this lady’s husband who was an innocent member of the public had his sandwich stolen by a seagull, straight out of his hands. Our reader would like to know if anyone has captured this serious crime on CCTV so that the nasty seagull can be caught and reprimanded. At this distance in time, probably not looking for return of the stolen property.
At the AGM of this year’s Association of Security Consultants it’s all change. Joe Connell has become the new chair and appointed Roger Noakes as vice chair. Here is a pic of Roger in his chair. Roger has been around the industry almost as long as me but not quite. Roger also won the acclaimed title of consultant of the year at the ASC luncheon, a title that was won by Joe last year.
The winner this month of the bottle of bubbly for getting their picture taken with our magazine in a well known place is Steve King at Zenitel who was caught reading our magazine whilst at this years IFSEC; well done Steve, your bubbly is on its way.
Moving on, last month I mentioned a few people that have passed on to the security industry in the sky, we sadly we have a few more names to add to that list.
More deaths
Chris Eckersley died as I was writing last month’s gossip column, I understand he had lung cancer. You may recall Chris had been in the industry for many years and I first met him when he was the UK agent for Rainbow lenses selling these to us at distributor MVD.
Also Chris Webster died in his sleep. He was well respected by many of us in the industry and there are hundreds of tributes to Chris on his Linkedin page; his son is keeping it running. I was unable to attend the funeral which was here in the UK, packed with industry supporters. As you will know Chris had moved to Oman.
And finally this month: Mick Ingram has passed away, Paul Grist told me: “Mick was one of the electronic security industry’s leading lights throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s. He started his career with Securicor Alarms in Brighton and quickly rose through the ranks to become area manager. He joined the board of PJ Carroll & Sons in 1982, ultimately acquiring the business from its owners in 1986 and forming Carroll Security Group. Which he sold to Secom of Japan in 1991. Mick remained there as managing director until he acquired Argus Alarms in the mid 1990s. That then got sold to ADT in 1999.”
